Recently announced tender has provoked speculation that the government plans to privatize numerous state-owned companies.
Croatian government reacted on Saturday to information published in the media about its alleged plans to start the privatization process for strategically important state-owned companies. The State Office for State Property Management announced a few days ago a tender seeking consultants for an “initial and independent evaluation of a portfolio of state-owned companies before making a decision on privatization”, reports Index.hr on April 23, 2016.
The government reacted by saying that some of the media were publishing inaccurate reports, since the analysis was “a basis for the development of a strategy for those companies and not their valuation”.
“The State Office for State Property Management requested an analysis of business operations of companies in which the state has a majority ownership stake and companies of special national interest, which will be a basis for development of a strategy for these companies, and not for their valuation, as has been incorrectly reported by some media. The goal of the analysis is to find out the condition of this companies and, if necessary, correct their categorization”, announced the government.
“Therefore, nobody ever said that strategically important companies would be sold or that companies which are of strategic importance would be privatized. Likewise, there was never any discussion about the privatization of strategic resources such as forests and water resources, and all information to the contrary are not true. All decisions, after analysis and debate, will be made by the government on the proposal made by the Commission of the Government for the Management of Strategically Important Companies”, concluded the government’s statement.
The State Office for State Property Management’s list includes 54 companies, among them, Croatian Motorways, JANAF, HEP, Plinacro, Croatian Forests, Croatian Lottery, ACI, Jadrolinija, airports, Croatian Post, Petrokemija and Brijuni Riviera.
The tender is open until 3 May and interested consultants should provide assessments for “sale of companies without restructuring” and “sale of companies with restructuring”. There is also a third option, which is for the companies to remain in state ownership with or without restructuring.
